Palestinians wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, May 14, 2025.    REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo

Geneva, May 17 (RHC)-- The United Nations relief chief has said the U.S.-backed plan to get aid to Gazans is a waste of time.

Tom Fletcher, the UN’s top humanitarian official, has issued a statement again rejecting a U.S.-Israeli plan to seize control of food distribution in Gaza as an alternative to Israel’s 76-day blockade.

“To those proposing an alternative modality for aid distribution, let’s not waste time: We already have a plan,” Fletcher said, adding that 160,000 pallets of aid are “ready to move” into Gaza -- “Now”!

Fletcher said the UN’s plan is “rooted in the non-negotiable principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence” and is backed by the “vast majority of the international community.”

“It is ready to be activated – today – if we are simply allowed to do our jobs,” he said.  “We demand rapid, safe, and unimpeded aid delivery for civilians in need,” he added.  “Let us work.”

In related news, the Council on American-Islamic Relations has described the reported plan as “morally reprehensible and a historic crime against humanity”.

“If this news report that the Trump administration truly is plotting the forced transfer of one million Palestinians from their homeland in Gaza to Libya is true, this plan would represent an unprecedented act of ethnic cleansing unseen in modern history,” CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement.

“Any country or entity that takes part in this war crime would rightly face universal condemnation,” he said.

[ SOURCE:  PRESS TV and NEWS AGENCIES ]